IIM Indore

Pursuing MBA From More Than One IIM - An Unusual Learning Journey

Shalabh Agarwal has an interesting story of quitting his career in marine engineering and finding success in selling custom merchandise online. He acclaims that his close association with students from IIMs and other elite B-Schools has helped him in learning nuances of management which in turn had a huge impact in building his custom merchandise business.

Shalabh completed his engineering in 2016 and was placed with Chevron Corporation but due to some medical issues, he had to quit his job and bid adieu to the career he had always envisaged for himself before it even took off. While figuring out what to do next, he was advised to pursue MBA from any of the IIMs like most engineers do, it seemed a perfectly logical thing to do at the time. A month into preparing for the management entrance examinations, he decided to follow his heart and turn into an entrepreneur rather than pursuing an MBA.

Thus began his hunt for a startup idea, one of his juniors from the college discussed the challenges he faced while ordering customized t-shirts for their batch. Doing extensive research of the market and industry, he decided to start a custom merchandise store LabKet along with his co-founder (and college friend) Saket Jain who, like Shalabh, did not find his career in the shipping industry as lucrative and was also searching for new avenues to explore.

They got their first order from IIM Lucknow which was of 17 hoodies. It was the beginning of their association with the IIMs. Shalabh recalls that when he visited IIM Lucknow for the first time for delivering the hoodies, he felt a very close connection with HelL and since then it has only grown stronger. Slowly they started approaching other institutes and companies for orders and people began to like their products. Like every other great thing, LabKet team has faced their fair share of challenges in building their business.

During the initial 2-3 months, Shalabh learnt about different aspects of the garments manufacturing business. He started by outsourcing the manufacturing to various vendors. The early-stage was full of struggles and hardships. It was difficult to get the sales going and once an order was received, it was imperative to ensure that everything went right starting from getting raw materials to ensuring desired quality to delivering the products on time, all of it had to be well coordinated. The fact that manufacturing was outsourced to a third-party vendor made operations all the more challenging. “Entrepreneurship is a mental battle more than anything else. You can accept defeat in the beginning and in the middle but not at the end. One must believe that if it’s not a success, it’s not the end” believes Shalabh. By learning from the challenges faced and improving every day, they now have their own manufacturing facility in Lucknow and are able to supply fine quality custom merchandise consistently.

Shalabh shares, “One day I was sitting at the Amul café at IIML with a couple of students. We were having a discussion regarding their upcoming merchandise order. Soon the conversation shifted to our business. Out of curiosity, I asked them about the most basic yet fundamental principle that they had learnt till now at their B-School which could help us to structure our business even more. They told me about the “4 P-s of Marketing” also known as the Marketing mix. It really helped me understand the significance of 4P-s (Product, Place, Promotion, Price) and how these four P-s can be used for a mutually supportive marketing plan. It helped us to understand the importance of product differentiation in an exceedingly competitive industry and how promotion has to be in parallel with product placement and pricing. A small visible change that came into our products post this was its packaging and branding.”

     

Their vision is to deliver fine quality custom t-shirts to students at an affordable price and faster than the other competitors. They found out that other vendors faced challenges with respect to ensuring good quality of t-shirts and consistently delivering them on time so the quality of t-shirts and printing along with the timely delivery of the orders became a top priority for LabKet.

Gradually, their business prospered and they bagged orders from not just new institutes but also repeat orders from the existing clientele of institutes. LabKet’s strength has been their ability to retain their customers by establishing long term relationships with the students which gives them an edge over their competitors. They believe that ‘people buy with emotions and then they justify their emotions with appropriate logic,’ so they focus more on the UBPs  (Unique Buying Points) for their customers than the USPs (Unique Selling Points) of their company. Shalabh emphasizes the importance of building healthy relationships with their customers, suppliers and employees as he believes that business is all about people and relationships.

“It is important to build a relationship with people you do serious business with as it motivates them to stay loyal to your brand,” says Shalabh.

Slowly, they started scaling up their operations and closed bigger deals every other month but as a large part of their operations was outsourced, the profit margin for LabKet was very thin and the company was facing the problem of not having adequate liquidity to be able to support the existing growth of the business. In order to become independent, they decided to start their own manufacturing unit in Lucknow.

As of today, they supply to a large number of reputed engineering and management institutes pan-India such as IIM Lucknow, IIM Kozhikode, IIM Ranchi, IIM Calcutta, IIM Sirmaur, IIM Rohtak, IIM Indore, XLRI Jamshedpur, MDI Gurgaon, IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur, Goa Institute of Management, NIT Jamshedpur, BITS Pilani, BITS Goa, BITS Hyderabad, MICA Ahmedabad, Nirma Institute of Management (Ahmedabad) etc. They have also become the Official Merchandise Partners with various cultural, management and sports festivals such as Manfest Varchasva and TedX (IIM Lucknow), Echoes (IIM Kozhikode), Agon and Rush (IIM Ranchi), Cognito (NIT Jamshedpur), Illumina (MDI Gurgaon),  Horizon (Tolani Maritime Institute), Encore and Pravah (IET Lucknow) and many more.

Shalabh Agarwal also visited IIM Ranchi as a merchandise sponsor for Agon 2018 – The Management Fest of IIM Ranchi. During the 3 day event, he attended a number of seminars, presentations and competitions. There he figured out several important concepts such as SWOT analysis, Goal congruence, Expectancy theory and the Seven S Model which helped him in improving his business.

Pratik Ranjan (an IIM-L graduate and one of the members of IIM-L Store) shares, “While MBA for many is about theories and principles, I was among the fortunate few who actually got the opportunity to apply them in real life. Thanks to Labket which helped us fuel our student venture – The IIM-L Store.
The seamless execution of complex orders and timely deliveries are things that are unique to Labket. More than any other thing, the drive to excel ingrained in Mr. Shalabh is unparalleled. I wish Labket the best for the future. Thanks for being a great stakeholder in The IIM-L Store’s journey.”

“Our aim is to become the most preferred brand for custom campus merchandise. There are only milestones in an entrepreneur’s journey, but no destination,” says Shalabh. They aim to target campuses as their key customers as they feel that working with students can help them in product innovation and also it is a faster and easier way to get feedback on their products and services. This, in turn, will help their company to have a Unique Competitive Advantage (UCA) ahead of its competitors.

From dreaming to study at an IIM one day to supplying merchandise to so many of them is a triumphant journey in itself and the founder feels that it has been an amazing learning experience for him to work closely with students from some of the most reputed B-Schools in India.

 

From Fun Courses To Exciting Campus Life At IIM Indore - Ishee Vatsala

Every campus has something unique to offer its students, but what makes the difference truly valuable is how much it enhances the b-school experience of students.

Well, IIM Indore has the perfect blend of interesting courses and an exciting campus life to offer to its students.

Fun courses

The IIM Indore program has some of the most imaginative courses on offer. These include a unique Industry Interface Program (IIP) where students are mandated to work with a company on a real-time project to enhance industry-academia interaction.

Then there is Rural Immersion Program where students spend a week in a village in Madhya Pradesh to understand policy execution and administration from close quarters.

And we have a Himalayan Outbound Program for the second year students spend a week trekking in the Himalayas and get course credit for it! The course is meant to encourage teamwork and enhance the participants’ self-awareness when exposed to adverse conditions.

Student-run Ventures

The campus has a general store called Pi Shop as well as an eating joint called JAM run by the Entrepreneurship Cell as well as several other student run food ventures. That is not all, even students have the opportunity to run JAM on designated days which includes designing their own menu, taking orders and cooking food. Business requires hands-on experience after all!

Exciting Campus Life

From Onam to Holi, every festival is celebrated with huge fervour on campus and is accompanied by delicious feasts. The Cultural Committee on campus ensures that things never get boring and there are frequent DJ nights for you to dance all your troubles away.

Be one with nature

The campus is home to a wide variety of animals and birds and enthusiasts organize nature walks from time to time. The campus’ location on a hill also means that residents are privy to stunning views of Indore city and surrounding areas day and night.

City of Indore

Indore is a foodie’s paradise and you’ll never run out of places to go to in your two years here. There are heritage destinations in and around the city like Maheshwar and Mandu which are interesting day trips for the history lover in you and you get to live in a possibly unexplored region of the country.

So, as can be seen there are reasons enough to distinguish IIM Indore from the rest.

It’s not called the “Castle on the Hill” for nothing!

Which ABG company would you want to work for and why?

The ABG group company I would like to work for is Swiss Singapore Overseas Enterprises Ltd. Swiss Singapore operates in the industry of providing bulk commodity trading services.

This is a very unique and relatively unknown industry to me and hence I would like to have the opportunity of learning more about the various industry dynamics and how it functions. Their website talks about the various commodities whose trade they manage, and it includes products as varied as coal and tea. I find this very fascinating and hence would like to work here to understand it better.

InsideIIM Student Team 2.0 - Meet Your Team For 2016-17

InsideIIM stands for Quality, Creativity and Democracy, and in our continuous endeavour to achieve these three pillars as well as stay young and fresh, we have selected our student team for the year 2016-17.

This is the second year that the student team has been selected from various schools across the country. After reading hundreds of applications and scanning them through 2 rounds, a team of 14 students has been carefully handpicked. The student team will contribute interesting content and will be the student's representative across different campuses.

Our student team keeps the content on InsideIIM relevant. They also serve as great guides and mentors to the next crop of students about to enter business schools. This year's student team is from IIMs -  B, C, L, I, K, Trichy, Ranchi, XLRI Jamshedpur and TISS Mumbai. The InsideIIM student team is an unique proposition where students get to run an online platform while they are studying. They learn the nuts and bolts of digital marketing, analytics and user behaviour in the online world. Students get immediate feedback about their work based on user behaviour on InsideIIM. Unlike most projects where one gives recommendations and goes away, on InsideIIM the student team is actually involved in the execution.

(Read about the first student team here.)

Niteen Bali - IIM Calcutta

Niteen is a librocubicularist and a binge watcher with a knack for humour. He has variegated interests ranging from sports, movies, TV series, politics, history. He makes it a priority to maintain a refreshing perspective towards life. He believes that causality is the supreme power of the universe. He also believes that movies and books let him live a thousand lives in a thousand different places. In his words, "I am a down to earth person because of gravity :p I believe I am the eighth samurai".

 

Aroop Sanyal - IIM Trichy

Hails from the East. Lives in the West. Studies in the South. Remembers the North.

Aroop is a mechanical engineer by trade (BIT Mesra 2012), who believes an enthralling football game or an engrossing fantasy novel is the answer to all of life's problems; along with the number 42. He is currently pursuing his MBA from IIM Tiruchirappalli where he is the Club President at the E-cell. He is also a part of the fest committee.

 

Abhishek Tahlan - XLRI Jamshedpur

Abhishek is an electronics and telecommunications engineer from DCRUST Murthal. He hails from Sonipat, Haryana. He loves reading, writing and listening to music. He is interested in existential philosophy and his favourite band is Radiohead. He was the drummer of his college band as well as the head of the placement committee and literary society during his engineering days.

 

Aman Jindal - IIM Kozhikode

Aman Jindal, a Financial Economics enthusiast, is a FRM Level 2 & CFA Level 1 cleared second year student at IIM Kozhikode. InsideIIM has been instrumental in his B-school journey right from his CAT preparation days and he is immensely overjoyed to be a part of InsideIIM’s Student Team. He says, “The opportunity to hand-hold budding aspirants, express my creativity & work in a cross-country team were my prime motivators to be a part of this quest”. An avid reader of English Classics, he loves having conversations on topics ranging from philosophy to politics.

 

Priyanka Grover - IIM Lucknow 

Priyanka loves writing poetry, reading, travelling and watching English sitcoms. She is a big time Potterhead. Elon Musk, Ellen DeGeneres and Sarah Kay inspire her. In ten years, she wants to live in around 4 different countries.

 

 

Pooja Wanpal  - TISS Mumbai

Pooja Wanpal considers reading the sole aim of her life. She is obsessed with trekking, pani puri, and adores traveling. She is a freelance content writer, and has penned the novel, 'Love and Lokpal'. She is currently studying Human Resource Management and Labour Relations at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.

 

 

Noel Roychoudhury - IIM Kozhikode

Noel hails from Kolkata and takes interest in music and literature. A Harry Potter euphoric, a  frequent switcher from glutton to anorexic and a mesh of emotional contradictions, she is a firm believer in miracles.

 

 

Aastha Sneha - IIM Lucknow

Aastha lives her life on the basic philosophy of courage, generosity and living-in-the-moment. She does not shy away from raising her voice against something wrong. 'Dramebaaz', trustworthy, accommodating, helpful, confident, happy-go-lucky, aggressive, one who holds grudges, easily hurt - are some phrases/words to describe her. She is a Special Class Railway Apprentice (SCRA), which means she has completed her engineering as a part of the Indian Railways. She joined the Indian Railway Service afterwards, worked for a year, then jumped across to do an MBA.

 

 

Nikhita Basti - IIM Ranchi

Nikhita is an engineer from B.V Bhoomaraddi College of Engineering & Technology, Hubli, Kolkata. She likes listening to music, engaging in social service activities, singing, writing short poems and articles and watching wildlife.

 

 

Abishake Koul - IIM Lucknow

Abishake graduated from BIT Mesra, 2013 and had a 2 year stint with Maruti Suzuki (R&D) before joining IIM Lucknow where he is a part of Media & Communication Cell. His hobbies include writing poetry and running.

 

 

Shubham Chakraborty - XLRI Jamshedpur

Shubham Chakraborty, currently a student in XLRI, is a mechanical engineer from NIT Bhopal. He is a history buff, a compulsive reader and traveller, who takes every opportunity to travel to any corner of the country whenever the opportunity presents itself.

"Having worked in the oil & gas industry before MBA, I have a deep interest in Operations and the parameters that move the world economy. This interest is what drove me to do an MBA. During my MBA preparation, I had searched extensively for articles & material relevant to MBA. InsideIIM gives me a unique opportunity of being on the other side of the search, to write on my topics of choice while sharing it with future aspirants, while sharing my experiences with them", he says.

 

 

Rinku Stephen - IIM Bangalore 

Rinku Stephen pursued Computer Science and Engineering just because she was fascinated by the law of cartoons. But later, during her course, she was smitten by the tech bug and went on to develop Peer to Peer Application for NFCs, automated healthcare claims process and solutions to clinical trials. She also had a brief stint as the IT consultant for a Startup – Praise Foundation before joining IIM-Bangalore. At IIM-B, she had the opportunity to intern at Flipkart as a Product Manager. Her project at Flipkart was about creating dynamic online advertisements that can be customized according to user preference. This required application from various aspects of Marketing – especially Consumer Behavior. For the high ownership she exhibited towards the project and her active participation in various internship engagement programs, she was recognized as the “Best Intern”. Setting the geek side aside, Rinku loves to trek, try new sports and of course.. GOT.

 

 

Nikhil Murthy - IIM Indore

Nikhil's interests include writing, basketball (captain of the college team at IIM Indore), DJing (amateur DJ) and travelling. He is also a member of the campus radio team at IIM Indore.

 

 

Deepika Mallyk - IIM Bangalore

Deepika is currently doing her MBA from IIM Bangalore. At IIMB, her major interests lie in Marketing and Strategy. Prior to this she graduated from IIT Kharagpur. She is a passionate dancer. Besides this, she loves oil painting and likes to take a shot at writing in her free time.

Please leave your comments below. If you wish to get in touch with the student team, please write to student@insideiim.com

I Never Thought I Could Pursue My Interests In The Bustling Campus Life Of Planet-I - Nikhil's First Year At IIM Indore

I was boarding a bus to Goa on the night of April 30^th 2015, when I received a seat confirmation for IIM Indore. The next three days were a roller coaster ride, and so was my first year as a PGP student.

My first term was about getting adjusted to the course structure, which I found to be hectic initially. The excitement of joining an IIM, and the enthusiasm to perform and make a mark did wear me off. I had to read lengthy cases before attending 75 minutes of long lectures. Then there were the pre-processes (for clubs and committees), assignments, quizzes and exams. The never ending list of activities on campus changed my sleeping cycle and gifted me frequent mid-lecture naps and swollen eyes. But, I eventually got used to the rigor. It made me come out of my comfort zone.

The emphasis given to classroom diversity by IIM Indore has remarkably benefited the students through enhanced peer learning opportunities. The inclusion of IPM participants has enhanced the learning experience and set us apart from the other IIMs. The class discussions and group activities, where we tackle business issues, always conclude with a host of different solutions. Working with students hailing from various educational and professional backgrounds exposed me to new ideas and perspectives.  Having worked in the IT industry for two years acted as an advantage for me, especially in understanding subjects such as organizational behavior, Strategy and operations management. I was appreciated for the viewpoints and solutions I shared with my peers during group activities, and I owe this to my work experience.

Events such as the Rural Immersion Program (RIP) and the Himalayan Outbound Program (HOP), which are incorporated as a part of our course, clearly validates IIM Indore’s mission to use contemporary participant-centric teaching models. RIP gave me valuable insights about the current rural environment of central India. We had to conduct a week-long open defecation survey at a hamlet faraway from a village called Harda in Madhya Pradesh. During the program I observed the problems faced in rural India due to lack of efficient infrastructure, connectivity, water supply and other basic amenities.  I also learned how the village Panchayats worked arduously to garner monetary assistance from the district authorities to maintain the village facilities. The schools though were functional, needed better sanitary systems.  RIP gave me an opportunity to assist the governments’ efforts in improving the conditions of rural India.  I am now eagerly waiting for the HOP to conquer the Himalayan ranges.

I never thought I could pursue my interests in the bustling campus life of Planet-I. The activity clubs and committees constantly toss fun competitions and events throughout the year. The college possesses well maintained hostel blocks, and other facilities like the sports complex (with an ‘Olympic size’ swimming pool), basketball court etc. Being a fitness enthusiast and a basketball player, I had the right opportunities to pursue my hobbies, and socialize with students with similar interests.

IIM Indore is a self-sufficient society by itself. I am calling it self-sufficient because the graduates here are always occupied in student run services and stores along with their studies.  The college has its own laundry service, retail store, food stall etc operated by students. The campus lights up in the evening teaming with people moving to the food stalls. The eateries will be crowded with friend circles chattering and munching on their favorite snacks. The college remains alive throughout the night. There is always someone awake.

My first year was a great time for me to interact with students coming from different parts of the country and make new friends.  All the major festivals are celebrated inside the campus and DJ nights are arranged for special occasions. IRIS - IIM Indore’s annual festival is a wonderful time for students to take a respite from their academics. Being an amateur DJ myself, I had a thrilling experience performing at the IRIS-2015 DJ night.

The campus is packed with greenery which when soaked in rain during the rainy season is a delight to experience. Having never lived in a hostel before, I understood the importance of being independent. I learned from my mistakes and also the things that I did right. I made a close set of friends in my first year, who have been very supportive and inspiring. I am constantly learning from them as well.

My summer internship was in a travel start-up. I was able to apply the concepts which I learned over a year to solve my firm’s issues. I also learned where my interests lie after my internship, and I now have a clear picture about what I aspire to work on in the near future. This course has taught me the significance of adapting to changes and time management. It has helped me gain a new perspective towards business operations.

So, this is the snapshot of my first year at Planet-I, and it was worth every bit of it!

 

 

---------

About the Author:

Nikhil TM is a second year student of IIM Indore. He is also the member of campus radio team, IIM Indore and captain of the college Basketball team. He enjoys traveling and writing.